Techno News

Greek electronic music platform, "π" turns seven this year and brings new features on its label catalogue. "Variable Remixes" is the first remixes EP of the Pi Electronics Various Artists series "PEVA". Five tracks from the debut compilation "Variable" - released in 2018 - are getting remixed by some of the label's favorite acts.

Unhuman's “Imminent Fear" gets an alternative Version by the legendary, Spanish band of Esplendor Geometrico. Damcase's "INKL Rules" is remixed by American producer Container. The untitled track of the Variable compilation, by the artist project "I am Legion, for We are many", gets reinterpreted by the Canadia duo of Rich Oddie (Orphx) and Huren as "O/H".

On the flip side, the track "GBNR17" of the label's "3.14" gets its fix by Spanish, industrial techno maestro, Geistform and DΛS' "Spinner" receives a special remix treatment by Athens' infamous ANFS.

Noise break-beats of different tastes on the A side, with stomping industrial beats for the club and sub-club environment on the B side.

The highly-anticipated EP, 'DESPITE EVERYTHING', written and produced by Italian techno artist, AYARCANA, with remixes by London based producer MANNI DEE, along with Berlin based producer, HUREN, is finally here. This is the second release for OMEN Recordings, once again archiving the dark sounds and malignant spirit of techno.

AYARCANA produces using hardware to seize his rough and brutal sound. He delivers sonic tones that can be hard percussive workouts, but at the same time providing sensual energy to his music. His title track, 'Despite Everything' dives in with steady kicks, strong bass lines with static and distorted melody lines that will surely be a dancefloor favorite. The triplet patterns in the lead voices capture the listener right away to take them on an auditory journey of unforgiving and relentless sounds. The second track, 'Direct Realism' starts with analog screams and cries while broken-beat drums fasten it all together. The chugging tempo combined with suffering aural voices makes you feel like you are in an unknown dark place.

MANNI DEE leads by example in creating mechanical and haunting synth work. His remix of 'Despite Everything' interprets the dark audio language and delivers a different approach to add to this moody ride. Though the noises created are minor in tone and melancholic, there is a dark soul that breathes life into this track. Steady hi-hats combined with sorrowful melodies make this remix very unique.

HUREN spearheads the industrial techno movement with his remix of 'Direct Realism' that starts with machines churning and simmering only to boil up to a tight 4X4, hammering track that is brutal and stomping. Distorted and thrashing winds will pummel you to the floor in an unforgiving way. This powerful mash-up is guaranteed to keep the energy high.

This EP is off to the industrial races entrenched with agitation and agony, but maintains its intensity throughout the album. All tracks on this EP muscle together in a tenacious way that will push speakers to their limits. This audio story seduces you in and tells you dark tales of exploration of the soul. Its alluring sounds put a spell on those who get caught in its spider web of noises that make this record demand attention.'

COVID-19 pandemic infectiousness and the relative necessity to put hard distance between people has brought up a wide range of means to cope with it. For some it went by as nothing happened, some struggled with not being able to be social, some were overly social on social medias, some spent it in a total drugged-out haze. Some, like Leroy se Meurt, used it to actually create something. The 5 tracks presented in this EP are the result of that forced stay in, the push towards the outside and the realisation that, in the end, there's nowhere to go. We recommend to stay locked in, even when this will all be over.

Dalmata Daniel presents the new album by Dutch West Coast mid-veteran Roberto Auser as an opening act in the label's LP series that comes with colored sleeve and limited to 200 copies. Also includes a hand-numbered riso-print as insert.

Auser (born Derk Reneman) has been into cinematic (or b-videomatic) electro for more than a decade now, with releases on Viewlexx, Pinkman, Gooiland Electro/Enfant Terrible and more, ranging from atmospheric and hypnotic to tight and grim, but always loaded with a vision of a storyteller. In a Dutch way, for sure. Though Second Sun is, again, an audiovisual trip, that's not the primary concept here - it's probably the purest album-like experience of Robert Auser so far, presenting most of his characteristics and sounds, and also new elements, still, all are coherent and organic parts of Reneman's projective language of electronics.

Foreign Policy is the electronic music project of Berlin based artist Thomas Ricard, co-founder of the Area Z collective. "Watching Existence" marks his debut release as well as his first 12", a six track journey of scorched electro industrial & techno body music operating as a conduit for his social observations on the modern condition, human rights and civil liberties. The 12" EP also includes a remix by SARIN. Available as vinyls & digital.

His sound can be described as a mix of influences oscillating between club oriented EBM-Techno and Industrial music, combined with a taste for dark cinematic atmospheres and soundscapes.

Released by X-IMG Records.
Strictly limited to 300 copies as 180 gram vinyl with graphic matte sleeve & CMYK label. Includes download code.

Repress

Following up on his contribution to the first Five Years Of Tears compilation, Randstad steps up to the bill and delivers his first solo release for Pinkman Records. 6 tracks ranging from twisted industrialized beat trax to brain melting weirdo dance. A great cross-over record for adventurous DJs and fans of the cold, minimal DIY sound of the 80s alike.

Hardtechno darkness, industrial cold techno !

All tracks composed and produced by Spammerheads. Recorded between May and August 2021.
Mastering by Soj. Artwork by Spammerheads
Spammerheads are Ana Escudero & David Garrido.
Valencia, 2021

Faith Disciplines and Subsist Records are two labels that have bet on the personal sound of Group, moreover, between these two platforms there is a good relationship and, although Subsist is a label oriented mainly to techno, it has always been open to other genres such as electro, industrial or experimental, on the other hand, Faith Disciplines is a label with a style designed expressly for experimental music, Lo-Fi and with sound elements of industrial.

Both labels have released Group albums, but it was Subsist Records who discovered this enigmatic project, which after 5 years since its debut we still have absolutely no information about the artist or artists who embody it.

Perhaps, and to disorientate us even more, we can discover with this new album something more about their past. Agriculture is a different release, this time Group doesn’t just stick to his degraded style and shows us that whoever is behind this project most likely had a past as a techno producer.

The lack of brightness, optimal saturation and large spaces that provide effects such as reverb, are properties that usually possess the tracks of Group, therefore, we must be clear that we are not going to find a conventional techno, as each of the 6 tracks could be cataloged with a different subgenre of techno but, sonically we know that they have passed through the hands of this project.

Ford Proco was formed in 1986 in Tijuana and is considered a pioneering act of advanced electronic music in Mexico. For more than three decades they have been developing a very particular vision of composition called “Autoconst”, derived from different styles (minimalism, industrial, noise, etc.) and tools (tapes, synths, samplers, computers).
Robert Proco (sampler & synthesizers) and Wito Lavolt (bass, keyboards & drums) have a long career together and with other projects and collectives. Their musical journey has gone through the fields of noise, minimal, cassette culture, avant-garde movements, sci-fi literature and tech-noise. With a strong aesthetic, this duo has moved through the limits of hardcore techno, industrial music, sonic experimentalism, always mutating and embracing new influx to their collage music combining such diverse and disparate influences as Cabaret Voltaire, Coil, Joy Division or Meat Beat Manifesto. Always interested in being a spearhead, they also incorporated elements of trip hop, ambient, noise, break-beat, film music, processing everything by samplers to get their unique sound. They have worked on several collaborations including a groovy participation with Peter Christopherson and John Balance (of the mythical Coil), Servando Carballar (Aviador Dro), Nacho Canut (Fangoria) and others.
In the early years Ford Proco released a couple of self-produced cassettes highly influenced by cut-up, noise and post-industrial repetition, receiving good reviews on the local media but also in Spain. In 1993 released their first album “Fragmentos De Ocio En El Hocico Del Cerdo…” (Opción Sónica), which brought together corrosive material from the first era with some approaches to new dance music. This album pushed them to play in several cities, to be included on various compilations and reviewed in numerous fanzines. A second album “Vertigo de Lodo y Miel” was published in 2000 (re-released by Infinite Fog Productions in 2015) followed by “Diagrama Percutor” (2009) and recently “Expansión Naranja” (Mannequin, 2015) including their collaboration with Coil.
“Fragmentos De Ocio En El Hocico Del Cerdo…” is now re-released on an expanded and deluxe limited edition of 350 copies with double vinyl and gatefold sleeve. All original tracks mixed and remastered from the original tapes together with some unreleased songs, alternative cuts and demos from the same sessions. There is also included a sticker and bonus CD with a selection of tracks from the first demo tapes.

Fluorescent Yellow Vinyl

Cititrax release a new EP entitled Die Stimme Drängt by Schwefelgelb, a techno body music duo from Berlin. Known for their bombastic strobe-lit live performances and immaculate studio production, their sound can be described as heavy, apocalyptic electronic body music for the club. They often play their synths intentionally detuned, and find harmony in disharmonious melodies paired with strong, steady rhythms and sparse, abstract vocals. They have had the opportunity to tour all over Europe as well as America and East Asia several times now. It is no surprise that their releases sell out quickly and are often re-pressed due to their popularity in the techno scene and beyond. The Die Stimme Drängt EP is their first original EP since 2018, the year they put out their highly acclaimed ‘Aus Den Falten’ which fiercely hit the DJ circuit and left a great impression. Their music has been played by DJs like Silent Servant, The Hacker, Helena Hauff, Veronica Vasicka, Regis, Samuel Kerridge, Phase Fatale, Adam X, Front 242, Jensen Interceptor, Tommy Four Seven and more.

Schwefelgelb’s Die Stimme Drängt EP is limited to 500 copies pressed on fluorescent yellow 160 gram vinyl.

Repress

"The Unfinished Fight Against Humanity" is SNTS' third full-length album following "The Rustling Of The Leaves" in 2015 and "Losing Sight" in 2016.

Ten tracks that are born from the combination of historical, mystical and current references, which lead to a reflection of how the human being can complicate its existence due to behaviour and the consequences that derive from such actions. The dark, hard and energetic rhythms of the album narrate the coexistence of diverse human values throughout history, from peace to war, from love to hate, from empathy to ego.

In words of the artist SNTS, "the human being has been created to live in society, the problem arises when society fails to coexist or compete to survive".

AsymetriK returns with its 3rd installment bringing along Arjun Vagale & EAS (Clergy) for a brutal, hard-hitting multi collaborative project. Taking inspiration from broken beat, EBM & Industrial, all 4 tracks allow the artists to express their creativity, cementing AsymetriK's open-minded aesthetic.

Pink Vinyl

The music on this full-length record by The Idealist, released on Höga Nord Rekords could work as a soundtrack for a Voodoo-horror-movie. It´s creepy acid-driven sound, often with a 303 as the centrepiece of the rhythm, is the kind that you´d expected to being chased in a maze of trees to.

Something threatening lies in The Idealists second release on the label. His Leftfield/techno is both a dark cold electronic adventure with metallic percussions, both a distorted image of a vengeful nature; a forest working as a single entity to find and feed on human souls.

Just like contemporary acts like Ramadanman and Appleblim, The Idealist contributes and develops a sophisticated yet primal branch of modern, uncompromising electronic music.

Repress!

Switching within digital binaries, analogue flux, and all forms of degradation in between, a creature is kickstarted to life, as if awoken with locomotion's full might. Helena Hauff delivers a mix for Tresor's Kern series, lashing together a sound world with a potent barrage of industrial dance music.
Scorched-earth missives attract metals and mining chemicals, leaving little in its wake but aggravated and chaotic experiments of lateral hypotheses in acid brine. Like a hyperloop through this labyrinth, this high-velocity future is both beautiful and evil, glinting embers through low-bit fogged-out clusters. 100 metre-high aluminium pylons vibrate, each captivated by their electrified foundations. There is no place for dust to settle on the floor. Where a loose TB-tribalism knocks switches and pounds upward synaptic shocks, life down there is too rapid. Not to be taken lying down, this is the viable path forward without the shackles of turgid passivity. The eect is no less thrilling than crucial, as it presents an essential DJ of our times.
Settling into swift 150bpm groove, Hauff ploughs through shepherd-tone electro, ghetto bumps, and grizzled techno. A new collaborative track with Morah plays a rough game of meter, with Hauff's signature sound clear as ever ripping apart new dimensions with a brutal disorder over deceptive bass synths. The visceral crunch of the present is no more clear than at the halfway point, a threshold in which the breakneck electro falls apart, with the rabid foam of Nasenbluten's ballsy gabber anthem "Intellectual Killer". Slowly more room to breathe comes into view, the pace drawn down revealing a strange sense of resolution, with expansive synths hinting at a beckoning euphoria. At this moment, Helena Hauff is clearly in full stride, uniquely melding fragile machinations against anarchic human interventions.
Helena Hauff and Morah, Umwelt, Machino, Galaxian and L.F.T. all contribute with five previously unreleased tracks, exclusive to the compilation. Rare titles are also featured, such as the late Curley Schoop’s “Mayhem” under the name Esoterik, “City Of Boom” by DJ Godfather & DJ Starski, Nasenbluten’s “Intellectual Killer“ and "After Dark” produced collaboratively by Andrea Parker and David Morley.

* London based electronic music label Khemia Records announces its sixth split release vinyl Ep.

* The second edition of the Magnum Opus Series on Khemia Records features a new production from Berlin based modular powerhouse Blush Response alongside an electrifying collaboration between Years Of Denial, who have previously released on Oliver Ho's Death and Leisure label and Russian techno auteur Alexey Volkov (Jealous God).

* On the Solar side Blush Response delivers 'You Will Cry Out In Grief' a maelstrom of industrial electronics seethes under a furious barrage of complex rhythms, as evolving symmetries disperse into incandescence.

* On the Lunar side Years of Denial meet Alexey Volkov in the first of a new collaborative series - 'Confess'.
Barkosina Hanusova's voice ricochets against caustic snares as she intones a fetishistic ritual of contorted flesh and altered states.

* Together they form the Albedo Edition.

ARTS is glad to present the very first full length work from one of our most unique artists in the roster, after a few records on the label and an impressive impact on the scene, KRTM worked on a larger project that aimed to express freely something deeper, and most likely something that was inevitable and that needed to get out into the sun. Despite the format, this is little more than a usual LP, the entire body of work is larger, but essentially presented in a very personal way in each single part of the elements and written tracks, we are glad to give you "It Will Make The World A Better Place", there are not many words that are needed to describe what you are going into, we hope that this piece of art will sign your future as will sign ours.

Industrial drowning kicker.
This 4rth DEMIAN is once again a bombastic production with printed sleeve and massive cut.

MUST HAVE !

The third release for Stroboscopic Artefacts in 2014, SA22 is the new cut from Italian producer Chevel. 'One Month Off' is an EP built around the abstract themes of construction, starting with demolition and ending on perspective. Opening track 'One Month Off' combines a warm thump with skittering percussion. Ragged cymbals build pressure. As the track continues to strut, through insistence as much as confidence, it gives out. 'The Wall', next up, is perhaps misleadingly a more unsettled affair. There is little linear impetus, a panoply of syncopated beats and foreign noises from the undergrowth. This is a wall of multitudinous surface, a front concealing the unsettled and unsure within. 'Cave Dwellings' is a more organic construct, building from the traditional basics of a kick drum and hi hat. Like the opening number this is a confident piece, but the Caves resonate with greater darkness and menace. The kick squelches at the bottom, the snare drips; glistening echoes bound through the chamber. 'Marker Shop' is fourth up, uniting disparate urges and glorious moods. The beat is uncomfortable, and repeatedly gives way. The record closes on 'Viewpoint', a piece of warmer perspective. It is not, however, a calm scene: in many ways this is a view of something more unsettled than what has come before. It is both jungular and industrial, an uncompromising marriage of nature and noise. Chevel lands, then, on SA, with a discussion of construction and constructs.

Dalmata Daniel presents the new album by Dutch West Coast mid-veteran Roberto Auser as an opening act in the label's LP series that comes with colored sleeve and limited to 200 copies. Also includes a hand-numbered riso-print as insert.

Auser (born Derk Reneman) has been into cinematic (or b-videomatic) electro for more than a decade now, with releases on Viewlexx, Pinkman, Gooiland Electro/Enfant Terrible and more, ranging from atmospheric and hypnotic to tight and grim, but always loaded with a vision of a storyteller. In a Dutch way, for sure. Though Second Sun is, again, an audiovisual trip, that's not the primary concept here - it's probably the purest album-like experience of Robert Auser so far, presenting most of his characteristics and sounds, and also new elements, still, all are coherent and organic parts of Reneman's projective language of electronics.

"I Hate Models makes his debut on Monnom Black bringing his trademark sound and style, anthemic ebm, acid, rave, techno killers. Absolutely Essential!"

7x12" LP. Herdersmat - Morderstwo - Rotterdam.

Ballistic006 consists of 2 original versions and 2 remixes from British Producers Makaton and Codex Empire.

A dark disc in which techno and industrial sounds have a preponderant role and which is already available in its digital edition.

First complete vinyl release of the 1989 debut album by Detroit industrial techno group Final Cut, produced by Jeff Mills and Anthony Srock. Recorded prior to Mills's departure from the project, Deep into the Cut marks a significant moment in the convergence of the classic industrial aesthetic and the emerging sound of Detroit techno. This reissue serves as a window into this unique moment, evoking both the transgressive spirit of European industrial music and the raw militant power of early Underground Resistance. The album declaims a message of sonic urgency across its 11 tracks, and still stands as a landmark statement of the industrial techno sound. Remastered in Berlin by Rashad Becker, this edition presents the full album as a double vinyl release for the first time.

One of the bright talent emerging from the current Netherlands‘ electronic underground scene is the German and Amsterdam-based, ‘fetish-inclined’, vocalist and performer Sophie du Palais ((Pinkman, Dekmantel Recordings)) also known as “Vrouwe Fataal”. She presents debut solo LP ‘Endurance of Pain is the Power of Being’

Sinister industrial wave music exploring themes of lust, hedonism, technological obsession & millennial alienation

Across six tracks, Du Palais unravels a potent signature, driven by fierce, imperious Anglo-Germanic vocals and eclectic, dissonant sounds. Connecting techno, EBM, acid and electro with vestiges of dub and experimental electronics, on ‘Endurance of Pain…’ Du Palais conjures an abrasive, intoxicating depiction of lust, hedonism, technological obsession and millennial alienation.

With the cruising techno pop menace of ‘Slow Steady Cum’, Du Palais introduces a nocturnal underworld. The descent is intensified by the mania and murk of ‘Glazed Disco Ball’ – a suspenseful dose of guttural low end, scowling spoken words, and crude drum machine clatter; if Gudrun Gut fronted Suicide. Then ‘Boys Tears’ elaborates on the dread and the sleaze with a horror show of gurgling synthesis, drubbing percussion and dissolute enunciations, halfway between John Carpenter and Unit Moebius.

From there ‘Up To No Good’ brings proceedings into a severe form of heat and frenzy, outlaying an exchange of raw jackhammer rhythms and vociferous punk chants that recalls Liaisons Dangereuses’ timeless underground classic ‘Los Niños del Parque’ if remade for 2021. ‘Smash The Mirror’ then finds room for scintillating dub recurrence and freakish machine funk before Sophie concludes the set with the sardonic electro-clash anthemics of ‘2001’, a provocative exploration of self, communication, and compulsion in the digital era. Miss Kitten meets Dopplereffekt for a technoid bonfire of the vanities.

‘Endurance of Pain…’ finds Sophie Du Palais seizing an uncompromising sense of style and intensity, an emergent new artist navigating a merciless, pleasure-seeking existence, from club to bedroom to screen, facing it all down with a cold glare, ready to light the fuse.

RIYL Miss Kitten, Toresch, Liaisons Dangereuses. Mastered by Rude 66. Artwork by Sander Molenaar.

Nuclear Device / Mahres 001 is a mini-album with 6 hot tracks produced by STIGMA the first time use alias of Steve Marie. The tracks are written during pandemic, it's a mixture of some slow industriel influenced compositions, late night club bangers and 2021 revisited synth pop 80's sounds.
The whole record is mixed & mastered at South End Studios by the master Chris Key It comes with an original artwork on labels and a fat old school 30 x 10 cm stickers on sleeve. Limited 300 copies.

Nigh/Tmare's most recent EP, entitled 'Hypnagogia' on Thrènes Records, is the perfect example of the artist's uncompromising attitude. The integral work on this project is the perfect sublimation of experimental overtones, rugged beats, and techno punch, making for a candid, outstanding, and diverse approach with a lot of edge.

The opening track, 'Inside Me', perfectly encapsulates the dark, melancholic atmosphere and the robust dynamism we find throughout the EP. Operating a more technoid and ethereal approach on 'Without Believing', Nigh/Tmare successfully communicates his urge to express his dystopian feelings of loneliness and despair. The journey continues with "Deflagration of Hell", which comes as a daring lamentation from deep inside the darkness. Killawatt's rework on this one heads off a bit of the original and discharges its emotional intensity by offering a new audaciously powerful dynamic. Finally, 'Despite Everything' keeps the perfectly balanced feel of the EP; it offers a subtle touch of dreaming and a hidden optimism. The digital edition includes an exclusive track and a longer version of Killawatt's interpretation.

Set for release in both physical and digital formats on October 12th, Hypnagogia EP marks Nigh/Tmare's first EP for Swiss-based record company Thrènes (which takes its name from the Greek word for funeral lament) and are a label dedicated to the release of tenebrous electronica and techno.

Perc Trax is proud to announce 'Stowaway', the debut album from Ansome. A ten track collection of brutal UK electronics which marks the next significant step in a rapid rise that has seen him become a key member of Bas Mooy's Mord crew and play a constant run of hardware based live sets across Europe.
A Cornish ex-pat who now resides in south London, Kieran Whitefield is the man who puts the dark in Poldark, combining a warm persona with a deadly serious attitude to his music. Consistently changing his sound as new equipment and techniques are utilised in his studio the album mixes up the type of 5am club rippers he is known for with an exploration of more spacious and atmospheric tracks. 'Stowaway' will also be released on Perc Trax CD and download formats with a London launch party at the end of February to support its release.
DJ feedback so far:: Lucy (Stroboscopic Artefacts) 'Incredible work. Big support for Perc Trax.'
Dave Clarke (White Noise) 'Snake Eyes' works well for me.'
Clouds (Electric Deluxe) 'My Christ! 5'5.'
J. Tijn (Power Vacuum / WNCL) 'Big album, gonna batter this.'
Tommy Four Seven (47) ' Fantastically brutal. Blimey'
Adam X (Sonic Groove) 'Good shit. 'Snake Eyes' is my top choice to play out.'2000 and One (100% Pure) 'Pounding stuff, thank you!'Bintus (Power Vacuum) 'Sounding great, naturally! On a cursory flip through, 'Vyken' is my bomb of the lot. Thanks.'
Thomas Heckmann (AFU) 'Great kick-ass album by Ansome and playing 'Snake Eyes' and 'Blackwater' for some time now !!! Brutal and inspiring !'Pinion (Perc Trax / Mord) 'Album is bad as hell. No surprise there. Ansome always delivers.Scalameriya (Perc Trax / Genesa) 'Powerful and useful tracks as usual. 'Snake Eyes' is my favourite. It actually sounds like it came from my own pantry, just a lot rougher aesthetically. Full support!'Ontal (Shadow Story) 'Can't wait to hear the whole thing! 5/5' Phil Kieran (PKR) 'Blackwater sounds hot.'

Murder Tbilisi is pleased to announce new various artists compilation featuring exclusive tracks from Soft Crash, Silent Servant, Volvox, Restive Plaggona, OTHR & Puritan.
Release comes in limited available high quality black & marbled (140 gram 12") vinyl copy of MURDER003 with cover art by ZIMMMERIT.

Repress

Veteran producer Thomas Feriero graces us with his first album in years and his debut LP as Maenad Veyl. Hosted inside a sleeve designed with Tomaso Lisca are twelve tracks made of the same contained abrasion we fell for on his EPs for Death & Leisure, Veyl and Pinkman. A full-on workout devoid of fillers, ambient interludes and other mindless garbage, 'Body Count' is as relentless as the name suggests.

Repress

Introducing the second edition of our ceremonial covenant, 'Previously Undisclosed Rituals II'. This year we've been blissfully cursed by an all-star cast which includes December (Blackest Ever Black/Pinkman), Vaal (Pale Blue Dot), TV.OUT (L.I.E.S.), Instruments of Discipline overlords Operant, Lost Highway, human bulldozer Ayarcana and our very own Greek tragedy: DJ Loser. Adorned with abhorrent artwork by Tomaso Lisca and a hexed